I don't know how, but I feel it does kind of work in a sense. For example, if the next CoD is a WW2 one, people will probably go play WaW. I have a Cold War mindset right now and it's great getting back into modern times before MW3 launches.

MW3 will play nothing like Blops because it's made by a different studio. By all accounts from people who went to XP, MW3 plays like cod4/MW2 which makes sense because they're all the same studio. In fact, a number of people have described cod as taking a fork in the road -- the MW style one way, and the Blops style the other.

But NO, playing MW2 will not prepare you for MW3. MW2 is still dominated by OMA/DC/NTs & next-to nothing in MW2 has a counter; whereas everything seems like it has multiple counters in MW3. Additonally, the makers of MW3 have stated numerous times that they specifically designed the MW3 maps so they played nothing like the way MW2 maps played.

I'm not sure how much you can prepare, but one thing that I have done is stop playing Black Ops and started playing CoD4 & MW2 again. There's just a different feel/pace to the action than Black Ops. First off, everything is so much more lethal. Secondly, it just plays faster.

My clan members' K/D increased in Black Ops from one to two full points compared to MW2. I've been telling them all they should probably expect to die a lot more than they've been used to the past year.

More specifically, I've been playing MW2 and not using Marathon, Lightweight or Sleight of Hand, and also using guns with a bit of recoil (i.e., not the one-shot-drop Famas or M16) and not using a shotgun as a secondary.

While nobody knows for sure how the game will play upon release, I feel I will be more prepared if I'm not expecting any of the "crutches" from previous games to be there.

Yeap, it'll play just like Blops -- with a camper in every corner, a super-weapon in every hand, no real counter to stealth perks, ultra slow gameplay on dull maps, and people laying all over the place in 2nd chance.

It's just my hunch -- this guy (fwd to 2:15 & listen to Hutch) and this guy (fwd to 3:04 & listen to Sark) didn't get to play MW3 a lot more than the general public or anything. Yup, just my hunch...

No, I haven't seen any of these preparation videos yet - nor do I watch any gameplay videos except:

- XBoxahoy's weapons videos.

- Walkthrough videos if I'm stuck at a particular point or looking for intel, weapons, etc.

Other than these, I find gameplay videos of all types extremely boring.

To counter some earlier points, playing other games WILL help reinforce the basics needed for any FPS. I've been playing Dead Island and LOTR: Conquest quite a bit lately and have started throwing MW2 and BLOPs back in to get into the groove of FPS.

Despite difference in game mechanics, learning how to put and keep rounds on target can be mastered by practicing with guns that have high recoil (MW2's F2000 and LMGs w/o grips are great examples). Even a game like Wolfenstien 3D will remind you to quarter your corners, not to lay on the trigger and practice target selection (going after more dangerous opponents first).

As to the comments about MW2 - everything in that game had a counter. Blast Shield was a helluva good perk if you could deal with the restricted view and lack of a map (which most people couldn't do), Marathon-Lightweight-Commandos were easy to deal with if you don't blindly charge around corners (quartering) and pack a shotgun, SitRep foils most campers, and sound tactics make you less succeptable to deathstreaks.

Short answer - I will prepare by keeping hands on my controller, not watching other people play.